Is This True?

[shredie]

As confirmed TD types, I don't think it would have crossed our minds to go to a different dining room if we missed dinner. I know once I called room service, but the couple other times that happened, we just went to the buffet. Maybe this explains the new people showing up at our neighbor's table when they were gone at our recent early seating experience. Same couple, night after night, (at a very nice table for two) then poof! a new couple until the next night when the original couple reappeared. I was confused.

[Pam in CA]

Princess works pretty much the same.

I still wonder what they do with the empty chairs if someone elects to change 80% into a cruise. It's to late to assign someone to traditional seating so my guess is that they remain vacant. If they let the traditional person dine in the anytime for 1 night they'll probably return to their traditional table the next night.

Being a 3-star Mariner on HAL and having done both their Traditional and open (Anytime) seating, they are not at all similar. On HAL, your card is always checked and if you have Traditional and want to go to open seating even one night, you submit a request and receive pre-approval from the Maitre d' to do so before you can go. Your Traditional dining spot is automatically canceled. It is a one way switch, even for one night. This is very different from Princess.

[pablo222]

I'm gonna be a very unhappy cruiser if I have to wait because others couldn't stick with their own choice or be considerate of others.

 

If you have to wait for anytime seating, how will you know

the 'demographics' of the people already seated?

 

It is talked about all the time on cruise critic, but who can

know if it is really a problem?

[traveling psych nurse]

We always do TD. If we are not going to be there due to a late excursion we let the waiters and the people we are eating with know. They will not be waiting to see if we are only late. We always eat in the buffet on these nights. We know when we book ETD and our excursions that there are nights we will not get back in time. This is a choice we make ahead of time. We would never go to AD on these nights.

[bigenna]

We prefer having a fixed early'ish dining but we tried anytime for a few cruises.

We too have experienced very long lines and inconsistent policies from ship to ship, as well as some very long waits between courses. I do not remember being asked to show our cruise card before entering but really wish that was a fleet wide requirement.

Now that we have decided to go back to early traditional, on our last cruise we were booked late and could only get anytime. I would have gladly taken the place of one of those who decided to "trade" from their MDR time even for the odd night if I could have, but it does not work in reverse.

Like Pam has said, you might get away with it, but think about whether it is the right thing to do.

Kind of reminds me of waiting at the end of a long line in a supermarket to be served, then when you are third in line, another till opens and the person behind rushes over before you. No rules about that either, but either inconsiderate, or just not thinking of how our actions affect others.

Princess really needs to educate passengers on this. Other than here on Cruise Critic I have never seen any information about this.

[Ethel5]

First I agree that there should be no reservations in AD. Second, there should be no switching between the two dining options. Once you switch, that becomes your permanent dining assignment.

 

I have also seen anytime diners seated in my TA dining room and assigned to my server, which messed up the flow of our meals. This should not be allowed.

 

Again, it's Princess trying to be all things to all people and failing miserably.:(

[dorisis]

If we booked Traditional and decided to change to ATD would our cards need to be changed?

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

First I agree that there should be no reservations in AD. Second, there should be no switching between the two dining options. Once you switch, that becomes your permanent dining assignment.

That is the way it's explained although they don't really enforce it.

 

I have also seen anytime diners seated in my TA dining room and assigned to my server, which messed up the flow of our meals. This should not be allowed.

 

Although they don't do it all the time this speeds up the seating in the AT DR. What about the vacant seats for TD people who choose to eat elsewhere that evening? Their seat goes unused.

People eating in the AT DR at a large table also have others introduced at their table in the middle of a meal.....same difference.

Again, it's Princess trying to be all things to all people and failing miserably.:(

 

They do their best.

[Potstech]

There have been instances when AT dining is so backed up, for what ever reason, that some diners are sent to the Traditional Dining Room to fill in the empty TD seats. This is done by the Maitre D' to get people seated and the line down. It is not done be the AT assigned diners. And is a great idea to get the people seated.

[Ethel5]

There have been instances when AT dining is so backed up, for what ever reason, that some diners are sent to the Traditional Dining Room to fill in the empty TD seats. This is done by the Maitre D' to get people seated and the line down. It is not done be the AT assigned diners. And is a great idea to get the people seated.

 

It is not a great idea! Having a group of diners come in the middle of a meal means that the server has to leave his people and wait on the newcomers. It disturbs the flow of the meal of the TA diners.

 

This could be avoided if Princess went back and enforced the rule that there be no switching from TA to AT on a nightly basis. They should allow it one time and one time only with no switching back. Again, there should be NO reservations in AT. Allowing permanent reservations in AT turns that into a TA and negates the AT offering.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

It is not a great idea! Having a group of diners come in the middle of a meal means that the server has to leave his people and wait on the newcomers. It disturbs the flow of the meal of the TA diners.

 

 

This also happens with AT diners seating at a larger tables. So I guess they should just make a rule that no new people be seated at a table once the meal has begun, whether it be TD or AT.

Why don't you just sit at a table for two & end the problem? Of course it wouldn't solve the waiter leaving your table for another in his section.

[RickEk]

Here's Princess' stated official policy.

 

"Based on availability and with 24-hour notice, traditional diners are allowed into Anytime Dining Rooms after 8:30 PM."

 

Not ambiguous at all. But how it's enforced is usually up to the maitre'd.

[Potstech]

"It is not a great idea! Having a group of diners come in the middle of a meal means that the server has to leave his people and wait on the newcomers. It disturbs the flow of the meal of the TA diners."

 

Sorry but nowhere was it stated they were sat at a table where the meal was already being served. I can fully understand that point. The two times it happened to me 8 of us were taken to the TD room and sat at a completely empty table.

[IECalCruiser]

Here's Princess' stated official policy.

 

"Based on availability and with 24-hour notice, traditional diners are allowed into Anytime Dining Rooms after 8:30 PM."

 

Not ambiguous at all. But how it's enforced is usually up to the maitre'd.

As an AT diner, that sounds like a very reasonable "official" policy. Now if they would be consistent on all ships. Now if they would be consistent on all ships

 

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Edited August 18, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[Ethel5]

This also happens with AT diners seating at a larger tables. So I guess they should just make a rule that no new people be seated at a table once the meal has begun, whether it be TD or AT.

Why don't you just sit at a table for two & end the problem? Of course it wouldn't solve the waiter leaving your table for another in his section.

 

A table for two wouldn't solve anything! It isn't that they are seated at a table where the meal was already being served. It's just the disturbance of the flow that the server has to deal with.

[IECalCruiser]

A table for two wouldn't solve anything! It isn't that they are seated at a table where the meal was already being served. It's just the disturbance of the flow that the server has to deal with.

Waitstaff in AT dining deal with that all the time. Not all of their tables are seated at the same time and people come and go from their stations at various times throughout the evening. Good waitstaff can handle that with little problem.

 

 

 

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[Ethel5]

"It is not a great idea! Having a group of diners come in the middle of a meal means that the server has to leave his people and wait on the newcomers. It disturbs the flow of the meal of the TA diners."

 

Sorry but nowhere was it stated they were sat at a table where the meal was already being served. I can fully understand that point. The two times it happened to me 8 of us were taken to the TD room and sat at a completely empty table.

 

It wasn't that they sat AT diners at a table where the meal was already in progress. It does throw off the flow of the meal because the server has to stop in mid stream and start all over with a new table. This causes the TA diners to have their service interrupted.

[Pam in CA]

If we booked Traditional and decided to change to ATD would our cards need to be changed?

No. :)

 

As for ATD diners being seated in the Traditional dining room, I've been on several cruises when this was done by the Maitre d' because the waits were so long (45 minutes or longer.)

 

And I agree that it is very disruptive if they are seated in your section. I've had that happen many times. Traditional dining tends to have a pattern or flow with most of the tables on roughly the same course. When a table is seated 45+ minutes later, it disrupts the flow. Everything is thrown out of whack and service breaks down because the waitstaff is suddenly taking drink and dinner orders and getting appetizers while you're sitting there with finished entrees for an extra 15-20 minutes before the table can be cleared and dessert and coffee orders taken.

 

It wouldn't be bad if the seating difference were 15-20 minutes but every time this has happened to me, the difference has been almost an hour. It's nothing like having to wait for a large table to fill in ATD. We've had to skip dessert and coffee to make a show every time as a result of the slowed down service.

[RetiredNTraveling]

I agree. This has always been true since Anytime was introduced in 2001. However, if you go to Anytime, your Traditional dining seats will be empty and go unused so you're essentially doubling up. Kind of like saving two loungers for yourself, one in the sun, one in the shade. The result is that those who have selected Anytime dining have longer waits since the Maitre d' is accommodating passengers who already have perfectly good seats in another dining room.

 

Yes, it's allowed but it's not the right thing to do. Decide for yourself whether to do it or not.

 

I would suspect that those who would double dip really do not care what we think. :eek: We only do "Anytime". However, on one cruise we were escorted to the Traditional Dining room as there was a very long waiting list. We were seated at Table 63 which turned out to quite an honor. Along with another couple from ATD we were introduced to Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Dorothy Churley, PCL's "Most Traveled Passengers of the voyage". They had sailed 1,097 days since 2005. It was their 6th b-t-b to Hawaii. Our other couple turned out to be Mr. & Mrs. John Manka who happened to be the retired US Park Rangers and our cruises Naturalists. So thank you to those from TD who crossed over and gave us this opportunity. :D

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Unfortunately sailing on a ship with many other people we just have to accept the delays due to having others being seated at our traditional table from time to time. To me it's just part of sailing on a mass market cruise line & no worse than waiting for the next tender to go ashore, waiting to enter the show lounge or waiting on line to re-board the ship. ;)

[granny6]

We were in line for anytime dining, just the two of us, there was a long wait and they took us up to traditional dining, there was hardly anyone in the dining room. It was nice that they did that for some of us.

 

 

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[Cruisin' Chick]

This also happens with AT diners seating at a larger tables. So I guess they should just make a rule that no new people be seated at a table once the meal has begun, whether it be TD or AT.

Why don't you just sit at a table for two & end the problem? Of course it wouldn't solve the waiter leaving your table for another in his section.

 

Our one time in anytime dining, over the course of the 14 nights, twice we were seated at a table at which some of the tablemates had already placed their orders. It wasn't our doing at all -- we always requesting a "shared" table, but didn't ask for a table where this was occurring. It did make for an awkward situation -- either the waiter holds off serving the first passengers until our appetitzer was ready or else he serves the items when ready and we're just sitting there waiting. About seven of those other days, we just ate in the Horizon.

[LeeW]

We only do anytime dining. We have never been asked what cabin we have except when we've made a reservation ahead of time. If they don't ask, there's no way for them to know who "belongs".

 

Our experience is exactly the opposite. We always dine Anytime and they ALWAYS want to see our card at least for the first few nights. After that they recognize us but still ask our table preferences.

 

Emerald would only take Anytime reservations on a daily basis - other ships sometimes allow a reservation for the whole cruise.

[jean s]

We always do anytime dining and we have been asked for our card probably on half of our cruises. We consistently eat late so we usually don't experience any long lines. I do however think that Princess needs to set clear regulations for anytime dining on all of its ships. Either you can switch from TD to AD or you can't. Also it appears that making reservations for AD may create wait time so maybe that practice needs to be rethought. I really like AD but Princess might need to tweak a few things.

[geoherb]

On the CB a couple of weeks ago, they seated some anytime diners at empty tables during late seating. I'm assuming it was because there was a long wait.

 

It's been a long time since we had anytime dining. When we did, we never had a long wait if we went to the dining room after 8:30. The unfortunate thing was that we preferred to share a table, and at that time of night no one else wanted to share.